The invention relates generally to the field of automated manufacturing. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for automated manufacturing cells.
Turbine and rocket engine components are typically fabricated using a wide variety of manufacturing technologies. Many of the component parts are fabricated using high temperature superalloy materials. These alloys tend to be hard, high strength materials that are difficult, time consuming and expensive to machine. Without resorting to mechanical joining operations, conventional manufacturing processes also limit the material in the workpiece to one specific alloy.
Typical manufacturing processes have critical issues that challenge their efficiency. Significant time and cost for component fabrication occurs due to material lead time and hard tooling for complex shapes. Usually, no non-destructive testing (NDT) is included in the automated process.
What is needed is an additive manufacturing process that improves product quality and includes processes that require minimal material removal due to the near net shape of the workpiece. The manufacturing process should reduce secondary machining needs and incorporate an architecture that eliminates setup and transfer times due to concurrent secondary machining operations.